Students old and new help open Bristol’s newest secondary school
14 July 2008
Bristol LEP's press release:
A roll of drums heralded the start of a colourful ceremony to mark the opening of Bristol’s newest secondary school, Bristol Metropolitan College, on Friday (11 July).
Students performed hip-hop, Caribbean dance and poetry in front of representatives of the school and local community, including two former students in their 80s who were guests of honour.
Alf Shelper (88) and Gwen Price (86) met up again for the first time for 75 years at the ceremony. They lived only a few doors apart when they were young and went to separate schools that later merged with others to form Whitefield Fishponds Community School, which ‘Bristol Met’ replaces.
Mr Shelper, who now lives near Thornbury, and Mrs Price, from Kingswood, joined the new school’s two youngest students Steven Palmer and Victoria England in unveiling a plaque to mark the opening, pictured below.
“It is a great honour to help open such a wonderful new school,” said Mrs Price.
Guests from Bristol City Council and construction group Skanska and local MP Kerry McCarthy were welcomed by students in many of the 35 different languages spoken at Bristol Met, a specialist language school.
Head teacher Theresa Thorne said: “We are a vibrant, dynamic and diverse community and that’s what makes us so special. This fantastic building will help us take off into a bright future and we’re looking forward to Bristol Met’s continuing success.”
Councillor Peter Hammond, Deputy Leader of Bristol City Council and Cabinet Member for Cohesion and Raising Attainment, said: "This new school demonstrates the success of the Building Schools for the Future programme in Bristol which by 2013 will have rebuilt or significantly refurbished all our secondary schools.”
He had recently shown councillors from other local authorities around the new school and they went away “gobsmacked and totally green with envy,” said Cllr Hammond.
He paid a personal tribute to construction group Skanska for causing minimal disruption to local residents during the two years that the new school was being built. “I live near the school and in all that time I wouldn’t have known anything was going on,” he said.
Celebrated poet Rommi Smith, a former student at the school who is the first writer-in-residence at the Houses of Parliament, read one of her poems, ‘Guide to the Exhibition’. Six students then recited a poem that had composed in a workshop with Rommi Smith.
Steve Cooper, Skanska’s Director of Education, paid tribute to the successful partnership of Bristol City Council, Partnerships for Schools (PfS) and Skanska that had delivered “this wonderful new building” in co-operation with architects Wilkinson Eyre and ICT providers Northgate.
The school has space for 1,080 students and is the second new secondary to be completed by Bristol Local Education Partnership, formed by the City Council, PfS (via Building School for the Future Investments) and Skanska, which is responsible for its design, construction and operation.
Bristol Brunel Academy opened last September, and two more schools are nearing completion – Brislington Enterprise College and the Bridge Learning Campus in Hartcliffe.
Bristol Met is organised in a series of 'learning clusters' for different subject areas. The central language cluster reflects the school's status as a specialist language college, with two further learning clusters linked by an internal street. This provides the main focus of activity, creating a space that is bright and spacious.
Intended as far more than a simple building project, the design facilitates the latest innovative learning and teaching tools such as N-able, an online managed learning environment from ICT specialists Northgate Education. This gives students their own personalised learning area and the support and help they need to make the most of their individual learning plan. It also provides new opportunities for learning outside the classroom.
Built to high environmental standards, the school has a biomass heating system that burns carbon-neutral wood chips to heat the building and provide hot water. It uses natural ventilation, with windows drawing in fresh air that rises through the building and leaves via large cowls on the roof. Rainwater is recycled for use in WCs, and the building makes maximum use of natural lighting to reduce electricity use and resulting CO2 emissions.
Notes to editors
- Bristol Local Education Partnership (LEP) was the first in the country created under Building Schools for the Future. BSF is the largest single schools capital investment programme for over 50 years. BSF will provide world-class teaching and learning environments for all pupils, teachers and communities in England.
- Bristol LEP (www.bristollep.co.uk) is a 10-year partnership between Bristol City Council, Partnerships for Schools – the delivery body for BSF – and Skanska, one of the world's leading construction groups.
- As well as completing Bristol Brunel Academy and Bristol Metropolitan College, Bristol LEP is also developing a new building for Brislington Enterprise College, opening in September 2008, and the Bridge Learning Campus, which will replace Hartcliffe Engineering Community College and Teyfant Community School when it opens in January 2009.
- Total construction value of the four schools is approximately £120 million and the operating contract is for 25 years.
Designed by award-winning Wilkinson Eyre Architects, the schools represent the best in innovative environments for learning. International multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy, Buro Happold, has provided building services engineering, and Grant Associates were landscape architects. The managed ICT service is provided by Northgate Information Solutions. - The LEP is working with the City Council on other projects that will provide new and improved schools and Children's Centres across the city over the coming years.
Media contacts
Rob Richley
Bristol LEP (Local Education Partnership)
07774 891992
Katharine de Lisle / Julia Walton
Corporate Communications
Bristol City Council
0117 922 2732
